Bush Summons Dad, Bill Clinton To Lead Asia Relief

Ex-presidents To Run Private U.s. Effort

January 4, 2005|By Mark Silva Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON — Promising a "massive private relief effort" for the tsunami victims of South Asia, President Bush on Monday summoned two former presidents -- his father and Bill Clinton -- to marshal private American donations to charities.

Bush's two immediate predecessors will spearhead a national campaign to spur personal and corporate contributions, big and small, to such non-governmental organizations as the Red Cross and Catholic Charities that already are drawing considerable support from Americans.

The Bush administration has committed $350 million in humanitarian aid, in addition to sending military aircraft and ships into the vast region of destruction to deliver food, water, shelter and other assistance. An estimated 5 million have been left homeless around the rim of the Indian Ocean.

The White House acknowledged that private charities rallied to the rescue effort before Bush recruited his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and Clinton to court Americans for more donations.

"The greatest source of America's generosity is not our government. It's the good heart of the American people," Bush said Monday, accompanied by the two former presidents.

The American Red Cross, for instance, has received more than $79 million for tsunami victims from corporations and individuals since the Dec. 26 catastrophe, including $1 million on Monday from actress Sandra Bullock.

The total of private donations in the United States is not known.

"Americans have a history of rising to meet great humanitarian challenges and of providing hope to suffering peoples," Bush said. "Both men, both presidents, know the great decency of our people," he said, his father standing to his right, Clinton to his left, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. "They bring tremendous leadership experience to this role, and they bring good hearts."

The image of three presidents standing together and promising to do all they could was designed in part to portray the United States as a compassionate and generous country. In the first days after the calamity, Bush was criticized for not responding more forcefully, and many have urged him to seize the opportunity to bolster the image of the United States, especially in Asian and Muslim nations.

The 43rd, 42nd and 41st presidents -- two Republicans and a Democrat -- also united Monday for visits to the embassies of Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, the nations hardest hit by the tsunami, to offer condolences.

"May God bless all who suffer," President Bush wrote in the condolence book at the Indonesian Embassy.

To help potential donors, a directory of more than 50 relief organizations has been posted on the Web site of the government's volunteer recruiting agency: www.usafreedomcorps.gov.